Nigeria's central bank announced it will abandon its 16-month peg of the naira to the U.S. dollar and move to a "purely market-driven" system of foreign exchange trading starting next week. Economists estimate the naira's fair value under a float is between 280 to 300 naira per dollar, compared to the current black market rate of around 370, and the change aims to ease severe dollar shortages caused by low oil prices. The central bank will still be able to inject dollars and influence the exchange rate within reserves, but no longer has an explicit target rate for the

1. By Funny Hudzerema
HARARE – Government says
the technical teams working
on the ease of doing busi-
ness reforms should increase
momentum in order to
attract new investment.
Under the reforms, Govern-
ment is planning to review
policies which stifle the ease
of doing business environ-
ment in order to improve the
country’s rankings on global
competitive indices.
Officially opening the ‘Ease
of Doing Business Sympo-
sium’ which was hosted by
the Office of the President
and Cabinet and The Her-
ald Business, Vice President
Emmerson Mnangagwa said
News Update as @ 1530 hours, Thursday 16 June 2016
Feedback: bh24admin@zimpapers.co.zwEmail: bh24feedback@zimpapers.co.zw
Expedite ease of doing business reforms, says VP Mnangagwa
Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa

2. there is need for renewed
speed in carrying out the
reforms.
“What is needed is to
increase the momentum of
the reforms to ensure that
all bottlenecks are removed
for at the end of the day we
should always remember that
capital goes where the envi-
ronment is favorable, so we
need to do everything in our
means to be a destination
of first choice of capital,” he
said.
“As Government therefore,
we will continue to assess
our business operations in
order to identify those areas
that need urgent surgi-
cal therapy to improve our
investment climate, empower
our local entrepreneurs,
and attract Zimbabweans
in the Diaspora and foreign
investors to bring capital to
Zimbabwe.
“Whereas our target is to get
to a respectful top 100, the
goal should not just be chas-
ing rankings but to achieve
correlation between ease
of doing business and an
increased number of foreign
and local investors and those
in Diaspora,” he said.
He added that Government
is also implementing an
e-Government platform in
order to re-engineer and
modernise the public sec-
tor systems and process to
improve access efficiency
and affordable services to
the ICTs.
“It is hoped that such meas-
ures will greatly facilitate
the registration of those
entrepreneurs operating in
the informal sector and we
believe that formalisation
will enable small business to
benefit from loans, access to
tenders and will also enable
payment of tax.
VP Mnangagwa added that it
was critical for us to incor-
porate youths, women and
those outside the formal
economy among other groups
to effectively participate in
the economic growth of the
country.
In his remarks during the
same event Zimpapers board
chairman Mr Delma Lupepe
said Zimpapers is ready to
work with Government min-
istries in spreading the ease
of doing business across the
country.●
2 news

3. BH243

4. BH244

5. By Tawanda Musarurwa
HARARE -Unilever Zimbabwe
says it is in the process of
engaging Government and other
private business to be part of its
“sustainable living plan,” which
last year delivered nearly half
of the consumer goods giant’s
growth in 2015.
Unilever has sales in over 190
countries and generated sales of
53,3 billion euros last year. The
‘sustainable living plan’ is based
on the premise that business
should play a leadership role
disrupting markets in support
of sustainable living — and they
will be rewarded by consumers
who are also seeking responsi-
bility.
Unilever Zimbabwe managing
director Mr Hilary Muzondiwa
told BH24 that the idea is to
promote business models that
limit adverse effects on the
planet’s ecosystem.
“As we Unilever we are facili-
tating the process…it’s really
about mobilizing business
involvement in the whole sus-
tainability agenda. Business is
involved in using up most of the
resources and converting them
for the general population’s use
therefore as businesses we are
positioned very well to actually
drive the sustainability agenda,”
he said.
Mr Muzondiwa was speaking on
the sidelines of an engagement
that was attended by a number
of companies and organisations
including Standard Chartered
Bank, Econet, the Confederation
of Zimbabwe Industries, Lafarge
and the Zimbabwe National
Chamber of Commerce among
others. He added that Unilever
had begun engaging Govern-
ment at a local level.
“We want to look at how we
can partner with business and
Government to drive initiatives
such as this. For example, the
public toilets that we have been
refurbishing with brand Domes-
tos, we have worked with the
City Councils namely the City of
Harare and the City of Bulawayo
and we will be doing the same
with Gweru as well which is all
part of local Government.
“At the moment we quite frag-
mented in our approach, so what
today was about was for the
private to showcase what they
have been doing so that we start
a conversation and we can find
other ways of partnering with
business, with Government and
with the civil society in order to
drive this forward,” he said.
The Unilever Sustainable Living
Plan (USLP) was initiated in
2010, and the group’s fifth
annual report showed that the
company’s “sustainable liv-
ing” brands grew 30 percent
faster than the rest of business.
Locally, Unilever’s “sustaina-
ble brands” include the Dove
and Lifebouy soaps, Knorr, and
Domestos. The MD said locally
the USLP targets were at about
80 percent.
“So far we are on track with
more than 80 percent of our tar-
gets as defined by the Unilever
Sustainable Living Plan.”
The company has since stopped
disposing of its non-hazardous
material in landfills and is also
treating effluent at its Harare
plant.
“When you look at the effluent
treatment plant that we have
at our factory, when you look
at how we are managing our
non-hazardous waste, which as
we said we no longer send it to
the landfill, we are recycling.
It’s an expense to us right now
because we don’t have the
recycling capacity within the
country so we are sending them
outside of the country to be
recycled. But we have chosen to
spend that money to ensure that
it’s recycled rather than having
it dumped in landfills,” said Mr
Muzondiwa.
The Unilever group was ranked
first in its sector the 2015 Dow
Jones Sustainability Index.●
5 news
Unilever Zimbabwe pushes ‘sustainable business model’

6. BH246

7. BH247

8. HARARE –Zimbabwe’s annual
inflation for May stood at
-1,69 percent after shedding 5
percentage points from -1,64
percent in April as the country
battles cash shortages.
Zimbabwe has been in defla-
tion since February last year
and is projected to remain in
the negative territory for the
remainder of the year.
Latest figures from the Zimba-
bwe National Statistics Agency
show persistence in the neg-
ative trend largely influenced
by negative price movements
in the food and non-alcoholic
beverages category.
“This means that prices as
measured by the all items
CPI (Consumer Price Index)
decreased by an average
of -1,69 percentage points
between May 2015 and May
2016,” Zimstat said.
Month-on-month inflation in
May was -0,24 percent shed-
ding 0,02 percentage points
on the April rate of -0,21
percent.
The rate of increase in the
price of goods and services
had remained steady in over
half a decade after the country
adopted use of multiple foreign
currencies, primarily the United
States dollar.
But a slowdown in economic
activity has heavily impacted
on consumer spending power
as most companies struggle to
stay afloat.
Analysts say a failure to stem
cash shortages will further
impact on demand for goods
and services in the economy
. - New Ziana.●
8 news
Zim annual inflation at -1,69 percent in May

9. BH249

10. HARARE -Ministers from the
African Union (AU) member
states including Zimbabwe
and the Japanese govern-
ment are expected to meet
in Banjul, the Gambia this
Friday as preparations for
the sixth Tokyo International
Conference on African Devel-
opment (TICAD) to be held
in Kenya in August this year
intensify.
Established in 1993, TICAD,
which has the twin objec-
tives of promoting high-level
political dialogue between
Africa and Japan as well as
mobilizing support in favor of
African development initia-
tives, has for the five times
it has been held, been hosted
in Japan. Kenya plays host to
TICAD VI this August.
“The preparatory ministe-
rial meeting for the TICAD
VI Summit aims to engage
the African and Japanese
ministers to review the work
done in preparation for the
upcoming TICAD VI Sum-
mit, to be held in Nairobi,
Kenya from 27 to 28 August
2016, and more importantly
consider the draft Nairobi
Declaration,” the AU said in a
statement.
A meeting of senior officials
was held in Djibouti in March
this year to consider critical
issues to be discussed at the
conference, paving way for
this week’s Ministerial meet-
ing in Banjul.
The AU said promoting
structural economic trans-
formation through economic
diversification and industri-
alisation, promoting resilient
health systems for quality
of life; and promoting social
stability for shared pros-
perity were among the key
issues identified for discus-
sion.
In addition to government
officials, international organ-
isations, representatives of
partner countries, interna-
tional, regional and sub-re-
gional organisations, African
and Japanese civil society
would also take part at the
Banjul Ministers meeting
- New Ziana●
AU, Japan step up TICAD VI preps
10 news
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11. BH2411

12. BH2412

13. HARARE -The equities
market traded flat as the
mainstream industrial index
remained unchanged at
93.66 in mixed trading.
Beverages giant Delta finally
snapped a string of recent
losses to rise $0,0150 to
close at $0,5200, while giant
insurer Old Mutual advanced
$0,0124 to $2,3125 and CFI
Holdings jumped $0,0074 to
trade at $0,0800.
Also on the upside was ART
Corporation which closed
higher at $0,0201 following a
$0,0033 gain.
On the downside, BAT
eased $0,0287 to close at
$11,8500, while conglomer-
ate Innscor dropped $0,0085
to $0,1700 as Meikles
declined by $0,0060 to settle
at $0,0720.
Telecoms giant Econet traded
$0,0050 lower at $0,2097
while Barclays slipped
$0,0047 to close at $0,0193.
The mining index was flat at
26.24 as Bindura, Falgold,
Hwange and RioZim remained
unchanged on previous price
levels at $0,0120, $0,0050,
$0,0300 and $0,1700 in that
order.
- BH24 Reporter ●
Bourse stalls
13 zse

14. BH2414

15. Movers CHANGE Today Price USc SHAKERS Change TODAY Price USc
ART 2.01 Barclays -19.58 1.93
CFI 8.00 Zimpapers -8.33 0.55
Delta 52.00 Meikles -7.69 7.20
Old Mutual 231.25 Innscor -4.76 17.00
Econet -2.32 20.97
BAT -0.24 1,185.00
Index Previous Today Move Change
Industrial 93.66 93.66 +0.00 points +0.00%
Mining 26.24 26.24 +0.00 points +0.00%
15 zse tables
ZSE
Indices
Stock Exchange
Previous
today

16. 16 DIARY OF EVENTS
The black arrow indicate level of load shedding across the country.
POWER GENERATION STATS
Gen Station
16 June 2016
Energy
(Megawatts)
Hwange 502 MW
Kariba 565 MW
Harare 30 MW
Munyati 12 MW
Bulawayo 27 MW
Imports 0 - 400 MW
Total 1381 MW
22 JUNE 2016 -- Zimre Holdings Limited 18th Annual General Meeting; Place: NICOZDIAMOND Auditorium, 7th Floor Insur-
ance Centre, 30 Samora Machel Avenue, Harare; Time: 1430 hours...
22 JUNE 2016 -- GB Holdings Limited Annual General Meeting; Place: Cernol Chemicals Boardroom, 111 Dagenham Road, Wil-
lowvale, Harare; Time: 11.30 hours...
23 JUNE 2016 -- Zimpapers 89th Annual General Meeting; Place: Zimpapers Ltd Boardroom, Sixth Floor Herald House, Cnr. G.
Silundika/Sam Nujoma Street, Harare; Time: 1200hrs…
24 JUNE 2016 -- Dawn Properties Annual General Meeting; Place: Great Indaba Room, at the Monomotapa Hotel, 54 Parklane,
Harare on Friday; Time: 10:00 hours...
22 JUNE -- Lafarge Cement Zimbabwe Annual General Meeting; Place: Manresa Club, Arcturus Road, Harare; Time: 10:30hrs
30 JUNE -- African Sun Annual General Meeting; Place: Inyangani Room, ground floor at Holiday Inn Harare, Corner 5th
Street and Samora Machel Avenue; Time: 12:00hrs
THE BH24 DIARY

17. ABUJA - Nigeria's central
bank said on Wednesday it
would begin "purely" mar-
ket-driven foreign currency
trading next week, abandon-
ing its 16-month peg and
setting the stage for the
naira to fall sharply.
Nigeria's central bank pre-
viously pegged the naira
at 197 to the U.S. dollar
but the currency trades
at about half that on the
black market as slump in
oil revenues has hammered
public finances and foreign
currency reserves. The new
trading rules begin on Mon-
day, Central Bank Governor
Godwin Emefiele said.
The change of tack is a
"managed float" and puts
Nigeria in line with most
central banks, including the
Bank of England, a senior
central bank official told
Reuters. Nigeria's central
bank has no target for the
naira, he said.
The latest interbank level
will be posted on the central
bank's website daily from
Monday, the official said,
adding: "The old rate of 197
does not exist anymore."
Following the announce-
ment, three economists esti-
mated the fair value of the
naira between 280 and 300
against the dollar, although
the black market rate is
around 370.
Nigeria, Africa's largest
crude exporter, has resisted
devaluing its currency for
more than a year despite
other major oil producers,
including Russia, Kazakh-
stan and Angola, allowing
currences to fall amid lower
crude prices.
The central bank will still
be able to inject dollars into
the market, giving it some
control over the exchange
rate within the limit of its
foreign reserves which fell
to $26.7 billion in June,
from $42.8 billion in January
2014.
Emefiele hopes opening up
trading will ease severe U.S.
dollar shortages caused by a
slump in oil revenue.
With a likely sharp fall for
the naira, Nigerian products
will become relatively cheap
and imports more expen-
sive, which should stimulate
the domestic economy but
also lift inflation.
"To improve the dynam-
ics of the market, we will
introduce foreign exchange
primary dealers who would
be registered by the CBN
(central bank) to deal
directly with the bank for
large trade sizes on a two-
way quote basis," Emefiele
told reporters.
Nigeria's stock market
gained 3 percent following
the announcement.
"This is a major about-
turn. The central bank has
traditionally favoured a
managed rate and preferred
a strong currency to con-
tain inflation," said Gregory
Kronsten, head of macroe-
conomic and fixed income
research at FBN Capital in
Lagos.
"It seems the CBN is eager
the market captures forex
from remittances (inter-
national money orders) as
well as FDI (Foreign Direct
Investment)," he said -
Reuters●
17
Nigeria to abandon naira peg in favour of open market trading
regioNAL News

18. The pound dropped toward
a two-month low versus the
dollar as traders awaited the
Bank of England’s final policy
meeting before the U.K.
votes on its membership of
the European Union.
Sterling weakened against 10
of its 16 major peers, drop-
ping to a three-year low ver-
sus the yen. The June 23 ref-
erendum has dominated the
currency market with vola-
tility surging as polls sug-
gested a lead for the “Leave”
campaign this week. Last
month, BOE Governor Mark
Carney said Brexit could lead
to a U.K. recession as the
central bank downgraded its
growth forecasts.
The prospect of Britain
exiting the world’s largest
trading bloc has fueled nerv-
ousness across the globe,
with the Federal Reserve
saying on Wednesday that
the referendum was a fac-
tor in its decision to keep
interest rates on hold. The
Swiss National Bank kept its
rates unchanged Thursday.
Officials there have said
the British referendum has
potential to cause “enormous
stress” in Europe.
While no economists are
forecasting a change in BOE
policy Thursday, markets are
pricing in a more than 50
percent chance of an inter-
est-rate cut before the end
of the year.
Data have been offering a
mixed picture of the U.K.
economy. Reports this week
showed inflation holding
at 0.3 percent, the unem-
ployment rate unexpectedly
falling and wage growth
accelerating. Sterling pared
its decline Thursday as data
showed May retail sales rose
a more-than-predicted 0.9
percent.
‘Negative Environment’
“It’s a nervous and very
negative environment for
the pound,” said Niels
Christensen, chief currency
strategist at Nordea Bank AB
in Copenhagen. “With Brexit
there will be a lot of uncer-
tainty that will hurt activity
and it makes sense for the
market to price in the proba-
bility of a cut.”
The pound fell 0.2 percent to
$1.4182 as of 9:40 a.m. Lon-
don time. It touched $1.4091
on Tuesday, the lowest since
April 14. Sterling weakened
0.2 percent to 79.45 pence
per euro. The U.K. currency
dropped as much as 2.8
percent to 146.40 yen, the
lowest level since April 2013.
A two-week measure of
pound-dollar volatility based
on option prices surged to
the highest level on record
this week as five polls in 24
hours showed more sup-
port for leaving the EU than
remaining.
U.K. government bonds rose,
with the 10-year yield fall-
ing as much as three basis
points, or 0.03 percentage
point, to a record-low 1.089
percent. The 30-year gilt
yield touched an all-time low
of 1.908 percent.
- Bloomberg●
18
Pound approaches two-month low before BOE policy announcement
internatioNAL News

19. By Nigel Gambanga
After years of criticism and
the creation of an uncom-
fortable situation that was
amplified by the country’s
cash crisis the Reserve Bank
of Zimbabwe announced a
new set of bank charges.
The move is commedable and
even though it’s far from the
financial services charges
utopia that most Zimbabwe-
ans have called for (ATM
withdrawals still cost up to
$2.50), its the first indication
that policy can ease some of
the challenges we face.
It also shows that as the reg-
ulator, the Reserve Bank can
and should also review mobile
money tariffs.
The assumption was that the
as the high cost of elec-
tronic transactions has been
highlighted as a barrier to
a “cashless society”, the
charges for sending, receiving
and cashing out money from
mobile money wallets would
also immediately come under
review. That is yet to happen.
To put the costs into per-
spective, it costs $2.55 for a
$100 cashout and as much as
$4.55 to cash out $500 from a
mobile money wallet – figures
that now exceed the $2.50
ceiling set for ATM withdraw-
als.
Mobile money services have
a wider footprint than tradi-
tional banking services and
a reduction of mobile money
tariffs would impact a larger
segment of the population.
According to a FinScope sur-
vey published in 2015, only
30% of the Zimbabwean adult
population had an active bank
account. Of the 70% of the
market that was unbanked,
74% dismissed a bank
account as being unnecessary
or unaffordable.
This is contrast with mobile
financial services that had
registered over 7,3 million
users by December 2015. All
these users depend on the
ubiquity of mobile money
services to pay for services
as well as send and receive
money from people within the
country and outside it.
A national count of over
33,000 agents also means
that mobile financial services
are the “banks” that most
Zimbabweans are familiar
with and turn to for most of
their transactions – something
also supported by official
figures which show that 88%
of transactions are made
through mobile money.
Understandably these changes
won’t happen at the snap of
a finger. The RBZ still has
to work with mobile money
service providers, who are
predominantly the mobile net-
work operators.
Despite isolated and applaud-
able efforts to lower or scrap
some of their charges, mobile
operators are likely to resiste
any massive reduction on
fees.
As the mobile telecoms reve-
nue model adapt to changes
like falling income from tra-
ditional pillars like voice and
SMS, mobile financial services
have offered a glimmer of
hope with their growth poten-
tial.
All this has been enabled
by investments which have
included network support,
service develeopment, wider
agent networks and service
awareness camapigns which
have made mobile financial
services the success that it is.
Blindly hacking down tariffs
would affect a recovery on
such an investment, so the
RBZ would need to factor that
into its tariff review.
In any case though, these
considerations should have
made already, especially as
the bank charges review was
being intensely debated as a
cash crisis solution.
Mobile money tariffs also need
to be considered, for the sake
of the millions who are paying
them everyday– TechZim●
19 analysis19 analysis
Review of bank charges welcome, now mobile money tariffs should be lowered as well